Harold Keller / L’Observateur / November 24, 1999

In most support groups, members are told to take “one day at a time.” Thatmakes good sense because I’ve often heard that there are only two days in your life that will rob you of the good life – yesterday and tomorrow. Inother words, we are either living in the past or dreaming of, or dreading, the future. Being realistic, the only day that we have is today. It is a giftand that’s why it is called the present. We don’t have an option abouttaking one day at a time. It’s all that we are given. The people who liveeach day to the fullest are the happiest. The key word is live, not onlyexist.

Does that mean we shouldn’t plan for the future? Definitely not. In fact, tolive a positive life, it is encouraged that we plan as though we will live forever, but daily enjoy today like it would be our last.

All of my life, I have been anxious about the future. At an early age, Icouldn’t wait to start school. Then, I couldn’t wait to make my Communionand Confirmation. I couldn’t wait until high school. When I finally made it,I couldn’t wait to graduate, looking forward to joining the U.S. Navy. Afterone day in the Navy, I projected how good it was going to be in four years when I would get my discharge. After discharge, getting a good job seemedto be the ultimate. I then fell in love and couldn’t wait to get married.While planning the wedding, I envisioned how good it would be to have children. After the children, the same cycle was repeated. I lookedforward to the day I would have grandchildren.

The moral of the story is that we don’t take time to enjoy the only day that we have, that being today.

A couple of days ago, I was grocery shopping and noticed all the Christmas decorations, especially in the liquor department, where the packaging of their product makes it look so attractive. It’s no wonder more alcohol isconsumed between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are programmed toassociate holiday fun with booze.

Forgive me for getting off the subject for a moment and talking about alcohol, but the point is we are here, the week of Thanksgiving, and we’re getting ready for Christmas. We not only neglect living one day at a time;we can’t even enjoy one holiday at a time. Before Christmas, we will begeared up for New Year’s and then Mardi Gras, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter andon and on.

If you are reading this article the day it was released, it’s Wednesday.

Most people are thinking about tomorrow, Thanksgiving. If you are having ahard time enjoying today, make a commitment to at least enjoy tomorrow, which at that time, will be today.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Harold Keller is a regular columnist for L’Observateur.

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